Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry forms like haiku and tanka. It’s a warmhearted family of haiku poets created by Chèvrefeuille, a Dutch haiku poet. Japanese poetry is the poetry of nature and it gives an impression of a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. ++ ALL WORKS PUBLISHED ARE COPYRIGHTED AND THE RIGHTS BELONG TO THE AUTHORS ++ !!! Anonymous comments will be seen as SPAM !!!

Monday, December 25, 2017

Carpe Diem #1334 An Empty Mind

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Here in The Netherlands we have two Christmas days, December 25th and 26th, I know that there are several other countries who have two Christmas days, but every year again I ask my self ... why do we have two Christmas days instead of just one day. I know that in several countries the day after Christmas day is called "Boxing Day" and the name goes far back in history.

"Boxing Day" what does it mean: The Oxford English Dictionary gives the earliest attestations from Britain in the 1830s, defining it as "the first week-day after Christmas-day, observed as a holiday on which post-men, errand-boys, and servants of various kinds expect to receive a Christmas-box".

The term "Christmas-box" dates back to the 17th century, and among other things meant:
A present or gratuity given at Christmas: in Great Britain, usually confined to gratuities given to those who are supposed to have a vague claim upon the donor for services rendered to him as one of the general public by whom they are employed and paid, or as a customer of their legal employer; the undefined theory being that as they have done offices for this person, for which he has not directly paid them, some direct acknowledgement is becoming at Christmas.

In Britain, it was a custom for tradespeople to collect "Christmas boxes" of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year. This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary entry for 19 December 1663. This custom is linked to an older British tradition: since they would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts, bonuses, and sometimes leftover food.

Well ... let me say to you all "Happy Boxing Day"!

Back to our quote for today. Today I have chosen a wonderful quote from Paulo Coelho's "Aleph", one of his most personal novels. I think you can remember that we read this novel while we were on our trip straight through the former USSR on Trans Siberian Railroad. "Aleph" is really an awesome novel and I have read it several times ... maybe "Aleph" is my favorite novel.

I think this quote I have chosen fits the season too by the way. So let me give the quote to work with:

[...] "Now each morning, when your mind is still empty, devote a little time to the Divine … Inhale deeply and ask for all the blessings in the air to enter your body and fill every cell. Then exhale slowly, projecting happiness and peace around you. Repeat this ten times. You’ll be helping to heal yourself and contributing to healing the world as well". [...](Source: Aleph by Paulo Coelho)

As I read and re-read this quote I am getting the feeling that I have to create a new early morning ritual, but I am not a morning-guy so to say, because I am more of the night. Maybe I have to create my own ritual to empty my mind. I even think that it will work better to have such a ritual before going to sleep. Making my mind empty ... say ... becoming again in balance ... would give me a wonderful sleep.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 1st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

PS. I have created a new FB-page it's about Troiku and is titled "Beautiful Troiku". You can find the link to "Beautiful Troiku" at the left side of our Kai. Feel free to visit and share your Troiku there.

Basho (1644-1694) once said:

[...] “When composing a verse let there not be a hair's breath separating your mind from what you write; composition of a poem must be done in an instant, like a woodcutter felling a huge tree or a swordsman leaping at a dangerous enemy.” [...]

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fragile beautyclimbing against the fencemoonflower straightenswith her snow white blossomto the Summer moon

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Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Carpe Diem is the place to be if you like to write and share haiku (or another Japanese poetry form like e.g. tanka). It's a family of haiku loving poets.Japanese poetry is known as the impression of a short moment, say a heartbeat or an eye-blink, in which nature plays an important role.It's free to participate in Carpe Diem. By participating in Carpe Diem, you agree with the use of your work in the exclusive e-book series of Carpe Diem.Of course your work will be credited as Carpe Diem always does. However all the texts and works at Carpe Diem are copyrighted and the rights belong to the authors.

March 20th 2016

Chèvrefeuille, your host

PS. Of course it is possible that you don't want to have your work published in our exclusive series of CDHK e-books. Please let me know that by sending an e-mail to our e-mail address carpediemhaikukai@gmail.com